— We’re not sure what’s worse, Colin Kaepernick deliberately not voting or Nick Saban saying of the election, “It was so important to me that I didn’t even know it was happening.”

— From this view, it’s a tie. Neither merits a degree from the electoral college.

— Kaepernick surely will suffer more. You can’t take up a noble social stand for change, then not participate in such an important process to effect change. Bad, bad call, Kap.

— Separating out any political leanings, we can only hope things go better than Donald Trump’s foray into the USFL back in the 1980s. That lasted three years before that entire operation went completely belly up.

— When the World Series stood at 3-1 Cleveland, Nate Silver’s analytic website FiveThirtyEight posted a story with the headline “The Cubs Have A Smaller Chance Of Winning Than Trump Does.” Man. Tough month.

— Without much doubt, having LeBron James rooting for you in any arena represents the kiss of death.

— Someone asked Andrew Bogut when he passed through town the other night how Dallas owner Mark Cuban, decidedly anti-Trump, was holding up: “He’s a little sad. His girl lost. So he’s a little down and we’re trying to pick him up.”

— Bogut rekindled much nostalgia for Warriors fans when he promptly took the night off after being introduced.

— So classic Steph Curry, firing in an NBA record 13 3-pointers in the game after finally getting blanked for the first time in 157 nights. At long last, Donyell Marshall, off the books!

— Suddenly, after a ho-hum start, Curry is on pace for 392 3-pointers, just 10 off his record. And at this week’s pace, maybe 500.

— Belated happy birthday to one of our all-time class acts, Al Attles, who turned 80 this past week. How time flies. We can remember the days when Al scrimmaged with his Warriors and could still make ’em pay, until he blew an Achilles doing it.

— Meanwhile, Kevin Durant’s string of 72 straight games scoring at least 20 points ended in Denver. There are worse fates than being tied with Michael Jordan regarding anything.

— You’d have to be a Shaqtin’ A Fool not to recognize the Warriors had their best all-around quarter of the year in Denver when JaVale McGee got his first chance at meaningful minutes in the post.

— Can we just give Luke Walton NBA Coach of the Year right now? True, the Lakers are only 5-4, but by the time they won their fifth game last year, they had 23 losses.

— Welcome back to sideline, Jeff Tedford. Long overdue, and Fresno State sounds like the perfect landing spot.

— Never Satisfied Dept.: Yes, it’s a wonderful thing that Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik and Buster Posey all won Gold Gloves. But it’s a total sham that Brandon Belt wasn’t even a finalist. Few, if any, are better at first base in either league.

— For our money, and we don’t have much, the Giants should just forget about Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen and go straight for Mark Melancon. Best bet to actually get a deal done.

— How valuable are starting pitchers? Bartolo Colon, who will turn 44 next May, just got $12.5 million from the Braves.

— Unless Madison Bumgarner’s contract his restructured, Colon will make more than MadBum ($11.5 mil) next year. And Bartolo can’t even hit.

— Several respondents to my “best Game 7” query appealed for the 1991 Twins win over Atlanta in which Jack Morris threw 10 shutout innings in a 1-0 walk-off win. A good one, mostly because of Morris and John Smoltz, but who remembers Gene Larkin, the utility guy who drove in the winning run?

— Another respondent went with the 1924 World Series won by the Washington Senators over the Giants in 12 innings, Walter Johnson getting the win in relief. At least modern-day Giants fans can relate: Those G-Men went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

— Finally, the late, great Bill King is a finalist for the eighth time for Cooperstown’s Ford C. Frick Award. Holy Toledo, eight times! Doesn’t that say something all by itself in a declarative, raspy voice?

Carl Steward has been a sportswriter for Bay Area News Group newspapers for more than 40 years, covering all manner of sports as a beat writer, columnist and jack-of-all-trades reporter. He has covered numerous Super Bowls, World Series, major golf tournaments and even did turns covering horse racing's Triple Crown and soccer's World Cup. He has also written the popular light-hearted "Darting Here and There" column for many years.

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